Ice Shot Ascendant Build Guide (PoE Synthesis 3.6)

Introduction

The Ice Shot Ascendant is a Cold-based type of archer that excels at clearing areas with great efficiency. The build achieves decent survivability by combining a 7K+ Life pool with Acrobatics, Phase Acrobatics and other defensive mechanics. Ice Shot is a great Bow skill when it comes to clearing, but has mediocre single target damage, which is why we aim for strong Critical Strikes combined with a lot of Cold Resistance Penetration from different sources.

By picking Ascendant we gain a lot of perks compared to other ascendancy classes. 16% Resistance Penetration, great flask sustain, additional Golem, 10% Movement and Attack Speed are just some of them. Other ascendancy classes like the Deadeye might look like a viable choice for archers in general, but they have very little synergy with the Ice Shot skill and the nature of the build.

Build Summary

The Ice Shot Ascendant can be played on a budget, with the option to heavily invest into gear later on. You will need at least one Omen on the Winds unique jewel, which is very cheap. Lioneye's Glare is one of the best unique bows in the game, simply because of the decent attacks per second, Far Shot (that is basically a 7th link), and “Hits Cannot be Evaded”. Considering the power of this Bow, it is very cheap for the value it brings; a decently rolled one might cost a couple of Chaos Orbs. The Pandemonius is an example of the more expensive items for the build; it helps out with Penetrating a great amount of enemies’ Cold resistance and is great for tough endgame fights.

Defensively, the build’s playstyle allows for very safe positioning, which is key in every Bow build. Freezing and shattering enemies before they even have the chance to strike at you is a great defensive mechanic. A great Life pool combined with a lot of Chance to Dodge Attacks and Spells will allow you to tank some hits here and there. Decoy Totem is archer’s best friend.

For playstyle, when entering a new zone, activate your Blood Rage and start clearing. Once you encounter map bosses, you can drop a Frost Bomb for additional damage and pin them down with your Decoy totem. You will be able to kill most map bosses without even swapping gems in your main setup.

Ascendancy, Passive tree, Bandits and Pantheons

Ascendancy (Scion – Ascendant)

Passive point

Elementalist Ascendancy

Pathfinder Ascendancy

Path of the Ranger

The Elementalist Ascendancy provides a great amount of damage in the form of 10% Elemental resistance Penetration; the additional Golem will allow you to run a second type of Golem for the additional bonuses. The Herald effectiveness will augment your Herald of Ice, and ensuring 10% increased damage taken against Shocked enemies is also a very powerful and often underestimated mechanic. Last but not least, you are Immune to Elemental Reflect.

The Pathfinder Ascendancy, in combination with few flask nodes on the passive skill tree, will make your flasks very reliable and powerful; this ascendancy also gives you 6% additional Penetration.

Path of the Ranger will allow you to start from the Ranger starting point, which will save you a bunch of unnecessary passive skill tree points.

Passive tree

The main keystone notable we pick are Acrobatics, Phase Acrobatics, and Arrow Dancing. Besides that, we focus on Life, efficient Bow nodes, Elemental Damage with attacks and Critical nodes. Soul Raker and the Claw nodes leading up to it will benefit your Bow attacks once you socket in Lioneye's Fall.

Bandits

For this specific build we should help Alira in Act II. The critical multiplier, flat mana regeneration, and 15% all elemental resistances are stronger than the 2 passive skill points.

Pantheons

Major:Soul of Solaris – The additional chance to take less damage just adds another layer of defense on top of the build. Other major pantheons are also valuable choices in certain situations.

Minor: Here we have many options to choose between. Ralakesh gives you Blind and Maim immunity, Garukhan provides additional evade chance, Shakari gives Poison immunity. Ralakesh should be the most useful one in most cases.

Pantheon powers can be upgraded by using Divine Vessel in the Map Device while you are activating the particular Map that contains the boss you need. Once you’ve killed the boss and captured his soul, you need to deliver the vessel to Sin in Oriath.

For all the gem links we provide below, keep in mind that we list the gems in order of priority (starting from the top left, going to the right on each row of the links), meaning that if you lack the required number of sockets to fit all the gems, the first ones to drop are the ones at the bottom (with the bottom right being the last). Also note that in-game, as long as the sockets are linked, it makes no difference at all what order the gems are placed in.

Ice Shot (6-Link)

Ice Shot is a Bow skill that creates a cone of damage behind the first target it hits. This mechanic is extremely powerful when combined with piercing, simply because every time your arrow pierces an enemy it creates a new cone of damage, which results in a lot of overlapping area damage. We recommend two different links for single target and clearing.

Frost Bomb (4-Link)

Immortal Call (2-Link)

Using Immortal Call in that gem link is a standard way to prevent deaths from Porcupines, even though you will probably dodge most projectiles, or just shatter them with your Cold Critical Strikes. Both gems should be kept at level requirement of 40 or lower.

Gearing

Capping your elemental resistances is essential and it should always be your top priority in any build; it should be the first thing you do when gearing up a character. Obtaining a 6-link, while very powerful and certainly recommended, can potentially be very expensive (requiring an average of 1500 Orbs of Fusing, obviously depending on your luck); as such, this should not really be a goal for you while gearing up, and you should instead settle for a 5-link until you have enough resources.

Helmet

Starkonja's Head and Rat's Nest are two of the best unique Helmets you can use. A well rolled rare Helmet also works just fine. For labyrinth enchant, look for Blood Rage additional Attack Speed or any Ice Shot enchant. The rare affix priority is:

Gloves

Southbound are probably one of the best choices you can make for the build. Tombfist, Oskarm or any well rolled rare gloves can also be considered. The rare affix priority is:

Elemental Resistances (until capped)

Maximum Life (at least 60)

% increased Attack Speed

Accuracy Rating (at least 300)

Boots

Well-rolled rare boots are best in slot. Having decent movement speed on boots is very important for archer builds, since they do not have a reliable mobility skill. For labyrinth enchant, look for additional Penetration or Movement Speed if you haven’t been hit recently. The rare affix priority is:

Amulet

The Pandemonius is best in slot for the endgame, prior to it use a well rolled rare Amulet. The rare affix priority is:

Elemental Resistances (until capped)

Maximum Life (at least 50)

Elemental Damage with Attacks (at least 25%)

Critical Multiplier

Rings

Well rolled rare rings are best in slot. The rare affix priority is:

Elemental Resistances (until capped)

Maximum Life (at least 50)

Elemental Damage with Attacks (at least 25%)

Accuracy Rating (at least 300)

Flat Elemental/Physical Damage to Attacks

Weapon

Lioneye's Glare is an amazing unique Bow, which can carry you all the way. Crafting a decent rare Bow can be very expensive and you will lose the Far Shot and Hits Cannot be Evaded mods, which might not be worth it in the long run. If you choose to do so any ways, you need a well rolled physical Bow with at least 350pDPS and 6,5%+ Critical Chance.

Quiver

Voidfletcher is probably one of the best Quiver choices for the build. A rare Quiver will allow you to fill resistance gaps and get some more Life and damage. The rare affix priority is:

Elemental Resistances (until capped)

Maximum Life (at least 60)

Elemental Damage with Attacks (at least 25%)

Critical Multiplier

Flasks

Diamond Flask is mandatory in every Critical-based build; this is a good flask to have Curse or Freeze immunity on. Divine Life Flask should used as Instant or half-Instant along with Bleeding Removal suffix. Taste of Hate can be very powerful, but is an expensive flask. The Wise Oak will help you Penetrate even more Cold resistance. A Quicksilver Flask is also mandatory for the build, try rolling it with additional Movement Speed. For the other flask slots we recommend using Basalt, Silver or any other utility flask based on the content you are running. Make sure you have Bleeding, Curse and Freezing immunity on your flasks.

Jewels

You need to have at least one Omen on the Winds jewel socketed in order to solve your Pierce problem. A Watcher's Eye with Hatred mods can be very powerful, but expensive. Lioneye's Fall will allow you to benefit from all the powerful and point-efficient Claw nodes that are located north from Acrobatics.

Regular Jewel Affix Priority

% increased Maximum Life

% increased Critical Multiplier/ with Elemental Skills

% increased Attack Speed/ with Bows

% increased Projectile Damage

Abyssal Jewel Affix Priority

Maximum Life (at least 35)

Flat Elemental damage to Attacks/ with Bows

Leveling

As a reminder, we have several guides to help you level up a character.

The build can be easily leveled by using a few unique Bows in combination with Vaal Rain of Arrows. Ice Shot will do great at clearing early on, but you will lack the single target damage in order to clear the leveling content; you should switch to Ice Shot once you’ve equipped Lioneye's Glare.

Leveling Trees

This passive skill tree will allow you to get through the leveling content. Once you’ve ascended into Path of the Ranger, you should respec all the unnecessary passive points.

Useful Leveling Unique Items

As you begin a new character, there are few unique items that can boost your power exponentially. Tabula Rasa allows you to have a 6-Linked skill as early as you get the gems. Wanderlust gives a decent movement speed, which will make your leveling that much more efficient. Goldrim provides a lot of elemental resistances, this will let you worry less about gearing when approaching certain Act encounters. Storm Cloud is a powerful leveling unique Bow.

If you are a new player (or if this is your first character for the league), then note that obtaining these items will be very difficult, if not impossible. They are rare drops, which you can otherwise only acquire if you have saved up currency, so do not focus on them too much, and instead simply look for items that match the affix priorities listed in the gearing section above.

Gem Progression

Using Tabula Rasa will allow you to have 6-Link gem setups early on, which is why we show such examples below. If you cannot get Tabula Rasa (or another item with a 6-Link), then simply prioritize the first gems in each link provided below.

In order to acquire gems that are not available to your class as a quest reward, simply ask a friend to buy them off vendors for you, or buy them yourself from Sioasa in The Library in Act III Library.